Rejecting ASM Applications from College Students

[Beavah]

My wife recently told me of a Adult application her troop received from an Eagle who is in a local university. He had not been a Scout in our troop ... they discussed his application and credentials and went silent ... after several moments of staring at each other, my wife finally said, "OK, I'll say what is on everyone's mind ... Why would a kid in college, with all the activities, workload and what not available to him want to be involved in a Troop that he's not been around; want to help us?"

 

Yah, hmmm....

 

I have to admit, this just floored me. Even as da BSA has just created a whole new membership class - the "college scouter reserve" - units are out there rejecting da help of Eagle Scout young adults because they happen to have moved to a different town for college???

 

Anyone else runnin' into this?

 

It's hard for me to find da right words to respond.

 

Beavah

 

[perdidochas]

I'd be happy if such a man joined our troop as an ASM. We are in a Navy town. We have had two ASM's that I know of that have been sailors. One was awaiting training, and had extra time. The other in a job at the base, and again had extra time. Both were Eagles and wanted to give back to scouting as a whole. I'd think the same about a college student in the same boat. Now, I'd be leery if the ASM wanna-be had minimal Scouting experience.

[Horizon]

I am in a college town, and would welcome a university level student wanting to get involved. I would interview him, but would take him.

 

A friend of mine who earned his Eagle tried to volunteer at a local troop. My friend had two young daughters and wanted to give back to his community through Boy Scouting (the girls weren't old enough for Brownies yet). The troop rejected his application, so he put his energy into Rotary instead.

[SeattlePioneer]

I'd be strongly inclined to invite him to participate.

 

 

The behavior of ANY new adult volunteer should be scrutinized, and that goes triple for those who aren't parents. (I say that as a non parent volunteer myself). But that shouldn't prevent them from being part of the program unless an actual reason of some kind surfaces.

 

Checking people's references, particularly from non parent adult leaders, is worthwhile. Checking with the troop the young man belonged to would be an excellent reference to check.

[Eagle92]

I'm glad that didn't happen to me. Not necessarily when I was in college, I stayed local, but after I quit being a DE, and moved to a new council while my wife was in grad school. 20 something with no kiods in the program, something must be up.

 

Then again if they looked at the references provided, as well as previous scouting and adult leader experience listed, it should say something.

[GKlose]

A side note, but our district committee had a similar circumstance last year. A guy shows up, young and an Eagle, but I'm not sure if he was a college student or not. Most district committee work would have been fairly boring for him, so they added him to the Boy Scout activities subcommittee. Help out with planning a few camporees, that sort of thing. Nothing too difficult.

 

OA would be another good place to assist. Maybe campmaster at the local camp. All sorts of things. No need to turn him away.

 

Guy

[CalicoPenn]

Is it ironic that we spend our time teaching lads to become leaders only to reject them as leaders because they're in college and not married?

 

Frankly, I believe Scouting would be better off without the sick, twisted and paranoiac mindset of the people who made the decision to reject the application of an Eagle Scout who thinks so much of the program that he has followed the BSA's long-standing suggestion that college students give back by volunteering for a Troop near the new home away from home.

[Engineer61]

I really don't have a problem with the decision ... different time, different world.

 

We, as parents, are constantly being harped at to "take responsibility" for our kids well being .. I think that is what these parents did.

 

If he's really that motivated, he try one of the other 100 troops in the area.

[Eagle92]

Calico,

 

I agree with you 100% While I was never denied a position, I remember being a 21yo OA chapter adviser, and being told I don't know what I'm doing, nor some folks taking me seriously. You are spot on.

[Beavah]

We, as parents, are constantly being harped at to "take responsibility" for our kids well being .. I think that is what these parents did.

 

Yah, sure. They made their kids less safe, and deprived 'em of a role model that might have made a real difference for the younger lads.

 

We just spent 7+ years training that young man. Yeh think it's safer to send kids into the woods with well-rounded middle-aged men who aren't even required to take a one-weekend IOLS course?

 

Statistically it's far more likely that one of the dads will molest a boy, eh? And probably more likely that da young, college-aged ASM will be the fellow that reports it, rather than his fellow parent drinkin' buddies.

 

B

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[dg98adams]

I had a College student (Grad student...23-24 year old) find my email address for the Troop I serve and asked if he could help the Troop as part of the Service requirement at his College.

 

The SM was not an email-user, so I became this "unofficial advocate"... making sure he got trained (YPT), he already had SM fundamentals, and OLS.

 

He was an asset, turned out he was an Eagle, brought records of the 40+ MB he had 9to show the Troop), Philmont experiences, and became a staffer on the 2010 Jambo in the Engineering section sponsored by IEEE.

 

I called him a kid (which he did not like, so I refrained), and he helped with the SPL doing JLT. The youth saw him as an "Older Kid" and got along with him fine. I took care of his service paperwork for the college.

 

IMHO the SM under utilized him since he did not take the time to get to know him.

[kari_cardi]

Can someone clue me in, I don't understand why as a parent I should be suspicious of a college-age boy who wants to help lead my sons in scouting. I am pretty sure our troop would welcome him and hope to find a good role model for the scouts.

[Eagle92]

Eng,

 

You are correct in that parent do have a repsonibilty. They have a responsibility to keep their scouts safe AND review ALL leadership applications, including college age ones. EDITED: that's why you check references.(edit over)

 

One of the best SMs I had the pleasure of knowing started off as an 18YO ASM moving out of the troop as an Eagle. At 20, he was the de facto SM, and at 21 he became the official, on the charter SM. After 20 years, he was still SM.

 

EDITED: I have also found that GASers(Gray Area Scouters, i.e. 18-20 YOs who are adults for Boy Scouts, but youth for OA) tend to have better rapport, able to get even the most difficult and obstinate youth listen better, and influence the scouts better than us old fogeys.(This message has been edited by eagle92)

[Tampa Turtle]

One of the best SM's I know is 23 without kids, an ex-Eagle and great guy.

 

Yeah if it makes the parents nervous pair 'em with another ASM and stick to the YPT like glue.

 

But I have to agree it is a couple dad's who give me the creepy feeling and I must admit to doing a little extra PI work done to double check.

[Eagle707]

If you ever encounter a Scout whose home unit won't accept him as a leader encourage him to join his university's council as a DISTRICT/COUNCIL College Scouter (code 92 instead of 92U).

 

That's what I had to do when I went to university and, once I got there, I found other students in a similar situation and we now have a College Scouter group on campus. So far, my district has been more than happy to use us as volunteers (and we've had a few members asked to serve as assistant unit leaders).

 

Also, as far as the better rapport goes, I happened to run into my former Jamboree Scoutmaster at an event in my old council and he left me with this gem:

 

Scouts get along better with leaders your age than a crotchety old [rhymes with "vast herd"] like me.

 

It isn't the cleanest endorsement, but I've heard the sentiment from a few other Scout leaders too. I'm glad to see that so many of you would be willing to give college students the opportunity to give back to Scouting.